The orientation program for which I was giving a solid “build-up”, finally commenced to day at the University of Technology Sydney. I knew the University was called before as The New South Wales Institute of Technology or something very close to that name but it was a surprise when I got to know that the land in which the uni is located belonged to the aboriginals, actual Australians.

I am certainly sure that all would certainly know that Australia was once a British colony. But the first people to come to Australia where not the British people instead it was the Dutch. The Dutch came in first & landed some where near Brisbane in the state of Queensland. But when the British came in, the country continent got the population moving in. The convicts of British were thrown into a ship & dumped here, basically imprisoned.

That’s the primary reason why the country itself didn’t develop into a populated one. In fact even today the density of population per square km for Australia is the least in the whole world, 3 persons per square km. Guess which is the one that heads the chart. No it’s not India; sorry it’s not China too. It’s Japan. According to a survey conducted some time back, Japan headed the list with close to 330 people per square km.

I haven’t explored much about the history of the uni as such. But as soon as I get to know some valid ones I will feed it in here. But I did find some important information that may be resourceful for people who are looking for something like this. Australia is a rich country as such with minerals. Even when I was flying in the air before I landed in Sydney I could find ‘heaps’ of coal mines around the whole place from the top. They have big coal export industry topped up with exports in milk products, meat & wool. Almost 87% of the population living in Australia lives in the coastal line. Well I am sure if I really want to get into the plains in the middle since I really am not sure if I would come back alive from the other side in the thickness.

Australian was the place where the ever famous Magnetic-compass was first found. It was invented in Australia & I guess is still helping ships to find directions. This is also the places which is not so much renowned for gambling as such, but have a big name in manufacturing them. Yes, they are the largest manufactures of gambling machines.

Coming to the orientation program, well I doubt if I have mentioned about this some where before in this post. Never mind, it was something like a never-seen-before kind of experience. It was very unlike one of the Indian university ones with big lectures for three-four hours, by the end of which almost eighty percent of the people would be snoring. It is not that you are not allowed to sleep here but it was the way it was designed. I have heard of this before. But when I underwent the whole process, it was even more delightful.

It started traditionally with a small & crisp speach by one of the coordinator’s which was followed by a unusual welcome dance by “EDAKI”, an aboriginal performance. I got to learn my share of the custom dance when I was called upon the stage to do it in front of people from 80 countries. There were few on the stage along with me who was doing it though. Even then it was a refreshing experience which everyone would have, if were on stage. “BAYAMI” which they believe is the creating spirit was summoned upon & requested to clear the evil spirits out of the place. Then there was a “PIPPY” collection, which was nothing but something close to an oyster.

There were few sessions on the visa regulations & also a excellent session by two international students counselor’s about studying in Australia, basically the methodology used for the valuation & related things. In the evening there was a Barbeque with a small performance by a band which called themselves as “Optimystics” from a place called Bayern Bay near the corner of the New South Wales state border.

I met heaps of fellow students in the whole process. Met students from the US, a chick from Canada who is in the same course as mine, a guy from Peru, a British gal, a guy from Germany who is doing his engineering, few from Malaysia doing UG Business & loads of Desi students.

I tried my best to configure the Wi-fi connection on my laptop, failing miserably. But I have roped in a guy from a Uni Shop who can get that done for me for $10, now that’s 350 INR bucks. Ooops!!! I better stop converting.



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